What's your superpower?

Just to add what I hope is a sprinkle of realism. Not to piss on anyone's chips of course. Super powers are all well and good if they translate into every day life.  I know I am not on my own when I say : I don't feel like I have a super power. Getting through a regular day or week is what I am capable of.

Although I have been known to identify minor celebrities from single facial features faster than anyone else in a pub quiz. Swings and roundabouts.

Cool!

Yes it is great and I have learnt so much too.

Homebird said:

I have done the Big Garden Watch for several years and was disappointed this year we couldn't log in so I couldn't see my chart from last year. 

That’s a shame.

Homebird said:

I started last year keeping a record of which birds visit our garden each week.

That’s cool, presumably you get a lot of birds that visit your garden then?

Homebird said:

Yes I do enjoy Winter watch and the other ones.

Cool, I love how Chris Packham is so passionate about wildlife.

I have done the Big Garden Watch for several years and was disappointed this year we couldn't log in so I couldn't see my chart from last year. 

I started last year keeping a record of which birds visit our garden each week.

Yes I do enjoy Winter watch and the other ones.

DeputySprinkles said:

I love being autistic! 

That’s great! So do I, if it’s not already obvious!

Just for your information Autistic Pride Day will be celebrated on Tuesday 18 June.

Yours sound awesome.. thanks for creating this thread and for sharing your superpowers. My own is empathy, excellent nearly photographic memory and I'm able to mimic almost any voice I hear - male and female - and I'm very, very creative. I love being autistic! 

Learning different routes to the same place. I like learning about back roads.

Thanks, little owls are cute! I've only seen them in wildlife parks, not in the wild unfortunately, I would think they are quite hard to spot!

Like Ausomely Autistic said, I don't think that's negative. And this is definitely a positive!

GPK26 said:

I am very loyal and determined to suceed.

Homebird said:

I too love nature. If I go for a walk and a bird hops in front of me I stop until it goes away. I remember one day waiting for a long while whilst a robin ate a bug it had found which was quite large. Hearing birdsong on walks makes me feel happy. I enjoy watching various birds visiting our garden. I also enjoy observing butterflies and flowers and if I see one I don't recognise, look up in books to try to identify them.

That’s great! Have you taken part in the Big Garden Bird Watch before? Do you also like the show WinterWatch?

I have great attention to detail, so tend to notice things others miss. In my job I most enjoy when there is a problem to solve looking through all the information we have to get a solution. 

I too love nature. If I go for a walk and a bird hops in front of me I stop until it goes away. I remember one day waiting for a long while whilst a robin ate a bug it had found which was quite large. Hearing birdsong on walks makes me feel happy. I enjoy watching various birds visiting our garden. I also enjoy observing butterflies and flowers and if I see one I don't recognise, look up in books to try to identify them.

I like your name too. I haven't seen a Little Owl in real life, but they look cute. 

GPK26 said:

I'm afraid that empaty is someting that I am severly lacking in.
Maybe I'm too old.....and damaging by a lifetime of a challenges and disappointments.

Sorry for putting a negative taint on the subject.

That's ok, don't worry. I completely understand that continued disappointments could have impacted your experience of empathy or lack of. How can you be expected to understand and care about how someone else is feeling if they don't care about you in the first place? (Rhetorical question). 

There is no shame in not experiencing empathy! We are all different, empathy is a spectrum!

I am very process orientated - always analysing things and challenging the status quo in my never ending search for the perfect process. Very handy in an IT environment (thats what I do at the moment).
However, it can also be my kryptonite and can verge on OCD at times.
The key is finding the right balance.

Like many autists, I dislike change, but I often see that as a positive - it means that I am very loyal and determined to suceed.

I'm afraid that empaty is someting that I am severly lacking in.
Maybe I'm too old.....and damaging by a lifetime of a challenges and disappointments.

Sorry for putting a negative taint on the subject.

Little Owl said:

Awesome! I love having the hyper empathy thing too.

Cool, if you are interested in learning more about autistic experiences of hyperempathy you may enjoy the video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt-fzj_ogVM

Hyper empathy is the reason why I feel so connected to my neurokin and have a strong sense of responsibility towards our autistic community, I can therefore also immediately understand how fellow autistics are feeling in a certain situation. In contrast, I can't engage in content that is too emotional and I also feel very uncomfortable around conflict between people, especially when I am in a situation where people are openly emotional (either positive or negative) because I can get overwhelmed by their emotions.

Little Owl said:

I'll have a look at the book, thanks for the recommendation. My only struggle with books is that I'm possibly dyslexic  I'm great with numbers but big blocks of text have a habit of making no sense or Ihave to read every line 5 times and still can't tell you what it meant!

You are welcome! What about trying the audiobook version instead?

Here is a link to the audiobook:

www.audible.co.uk/.../1473593018

Awesome! I love having the hyper empathy thing too. I always assumed everyone felt like I did but then I found out that they didn't and I felt sorry for them I have a habit of assuming that everyone thinks like I do, it surprises me everytime I find out that they don't, like a small moment of enlightenment!

I'll have a look at the book, thanks for the recommendation. My only struggle with books is that I'm possibly dyslexic  I'm great with numbers but big blocks of text have a habit of making no sense or Ihave to read every line 5 times and still can't tell you what it meant!

I can try but it's hard to explain! If I'm looking at a series of numbers I'll always look for how those numbers could relate to each other. I do a lot of work with finance, budgets and excel spreadsheets and I'm very efficient because I can always find the quickest way to do things, I thought it was relatively normal but apparently not. I tend to notice things more quickly than others, if anyone is going to spot a rare bird at a distance it will probably be me. I can spend ages looking at the small details on feather or flower and it gives me great joy.

Hi!

Thanks for starting this discussion, it's so important to support our neurokin to develop a positive autistic identity!

My autistic superpowers are:

1. My inituitive connection with my neurokin
2. My autistic hyper empathy - I feel things so deeply, it' beautiful!
3. My ability to reach a monotropic flow state when absorbed in my passions
4. I am very observant

Given you love nature so much, you may appreciate the book 'Diary of A Young Naturalist' by autistic young person Dara McAnulty. It is beautifully descriptive and almost poetic!

Little Owl said:

spotting details / patterns, particularly in numbers and equations.

Can you share some examples (or something like that) please? I think I probably have that capability but haven't pursued or explored it much so far